Four days after chastising the military for buying expensive spare
parts, Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger was scheduled to fly to
California in a well-appointed VC-9C. Purpose: a two-hour visit to the
Oakland Naval Supply Center. But there was another reason to head west:
a two-day stop at the annual gathering of the exclusive Bohemian Club
near San Francisco.

Set to travel with Weinberger were Under Secretary of Defense Richard
DeLauer and Navy Secretary John Lehman. The projected cost of the
nine-hour, round-trip flight: $21,807, not including the expense of
keeping the jet on stand-by while the officials were at...